BLOOD pints that were already utilised at the hospitals were able to be replenished from the blood collected in the past two days during blood drives conducted in the Central Division this week.

This was highlighted by the national manager Blood and Ambulance services Joseva Bolaqace in Suva yesterday.

Mr Bolaqace said for the whole week, they had been trying to organise the World Blood Donor Day activity for the Central Division, which were conducted in Korovou Town, Nausori and Suva.

He said even though blood that was already utilised were replenished, it could not really satisfy the number of pints they had in relation to the demand from the divisional hospitals.

"Today (Wednesday), we can see a lot of people coming in to donate blood and we expect a good number of people to donate blood at the end of the day," Mr Bolaqace said.

"We had a really good number of people who turned up for the blood drive that was conducted in Korovou Town and we managed to go past our target which was 20 donors.

"We trying to target 20 people in each town we visit and if we are able to go pass that, it would be a bonus for us because convincing people to come is really difficult."

World Health Organisation South Pacific director Dr Yunguo Liu said Fiji had been making big strides towards improving access to safe blood products for women and children and so the rate of voluntary non-paid donations increased to 75 per cent from 53 per cent in just three years.

"Voluntary donors are the lifeblood of a community and are considered to be the source of safest blood and blood products for patients," Dr Liu said.

A certificate presentation ceremony and a blood drive were held at the World Health Organisation office to recognise the contribution of blood drive organisers in the Suva area in the past year.